At Once Returned

Chapter 17

That evening, Natasha spent nearly three hours on the phone with Clint. He'd gotten wind of what had happened, but hadn't received the message until about ten hours after it had been left as he didn't have his phone on him as often while he was at home. That hadn't kept him from panicking, though. Especially when he didn't hear anything else for another several hours.

"I swear, Clint, I'm perfectly fine," Natasha said, trying to reassure him so she could hang up.

She'd spent the majority of the phone call assuring him that she was okay and telling him what had happened on the Raft. Unlike the others, Clint knew exactly how and when to push her for answers. He had insisted she tell him everything that had happened, so she ended up sitting on a bench outside the Compound so the others wouldn't hear.

"Just make sure you get checked out again tomorrow to make sure, alright?"

Natasha promised she would just to appease him.

"I'll call Tony and tell him," Clint threatened, "just to make sure you actually do."

Natasha groaned. "Clint."

"Fine," he said with a sigh. "If you die from internal bleeding, though, it's not my fault."

"Understood," Natasha agreed. Both ends of the phone were silent for a few seconds then Natasha said, "I have to go. It's dark out so I should go back inside."

"Alright," Clint said. "Thanks for calling, Nat."

"Sure thing," she replied before hanging up and slowly making her way back into the Compound.

She wasn't surprised to find Steve sitting where he could easily look outside and see where she had been sitting. Wanda was beside him, doing something on a tablet but in just as good of a position as Steve was. While Sam was sprawled out on the couch, she had no doubt he had been glancing outside as well. 

"Hey, Nat." Wanda smiled. "How's Clint?"

"Worried as ever," she replied, sitting on the couch across from Sam. Wanda scrambled from her position by Steve to join Natasha on the couch as she said, "I talked to Lila and Cooper who both say 'hi'."

"You told them 'hi' for me, too, right?" Wanda asked.

Natasha nodded. "Of course. And little Nate said everything he can say which is 'hey', 'ball', and 'yay'."

"One day he'll say 'Wanda'," Wanda muttered, returning to whatever she had been doing on her tablet.

Natasha smirked, knowing he could already say 'Nat' much to Clint's disappointment, but she didn't bother telling Wanda that.

"Can we watch a movie?" Sam asked, sitting up on his couch. "I feel like we need a movie."

"You don't have to ask permission, Sam," Steve reminded him, not looking up from his book.

While Steve continued reading, Sam found a movie. Eventually, Steve's attention was pulled away from his book and he joined them in watching the movie. When it finished, Sam and Wanda immediately started arguing over what to watch next.

"Marley & Me," Wanda demanded.

Natasha opened her eyes, having dozed off throughout the movie, and shifted so she was no longer slouched uncomfortably.

"We have the Accords signing and press conference tomorrow," she reminded the group. "Maybe we shouldn't watch another movie."

"But it's only 9:30," Sam protested.

Natasha stood up and stretched, grimacing when her ribs protested painfully and saying, "Yes, but it will finish at 11 and then you'll want to watch another and we won't get to bed until 3AM." 

Sam frowned.

"Fine," he agreed. "But tomorrow, we get to watch three movies."

With a roll of her eyes, Natasha bid them goodnight and left the living room.

Stepping into her closet, she dug around until she found her pyjamas and quickly changed. When she stepped out of her closet, she found Steve sitting on her bed, playing with his hands in his lap.

"You alright, soldier?" she asked teasingly. Steve looked up at the sound of her voice, but he didn't smile.

"You never told us what happened on the Raft," he reminded her. Natasha pursed her lips.

"I don't think the entire team needs to know," she replied after a moment.

Steve seemed to disagree as his leg bounced anxiously.

"Wanda knows," he pointed out, standing up.

"Because she looked into my head without permission," Natasha said bitterly. "I didn't want her to know."

"Why not?" 

Natasha shrugged half-heartedly. She had no intention of telling him she was worried about how they'd react. All things considered, Wanda had handled it well. Steve, however, she wasn't sure would.

"Natasha, please tell me." He all but begged her. "You could hardly walk when we found you and you still look horrible."

"Thanks," she grumbled. "Next time I need a boost in my confidence, I'll come to you."

"Nat, that's not what I—" He cut himself off with a frustrated groan. "I just want to know what happened."

"Why?" Natasha demanded, raising her voice slightly.

"Because it's my fault!"

Natasha's eyes widened at his assumption and he tugged at his hair as he paced.

"If I hadn't left," he muttered, "Ross couldn't have gotten to you and nothing would have happened."

"Steve, it's not your fault," Natasha said softly, stepping forward to put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. He froze in place, stopping his pacing but continuing to tug on his hair.

"Yes it is," he insisted, glancing up at her desperately. "Everything would be fine, but it's not because—"

Natasha was fairly certain he was about to finish that sentence with something along the lines of 'I left you alone', but she never found out if she was right or not. Before he could, she grabbed him roughly and pulled him down to meet her lips.